Trade Marks

A trade mark is a sign that enables customers and the public to distinguish your goods or services from those of your competitors. It is therefore possible to build valuable reputation in your trade mark, in relation to those goods or services. A trade mark may be a word, a group of words, a logo, a phrase or slogan, any combination of these, or even a particular shape, colour arrangement or smell!

In order to protect a trade mark, it is strongly advisable to register the trade mark. The owner of a registered trade mark has the legal right to stop a third party from commercially using an identical or confusingly similar mark, in relation to identical or similar goods or services.

However, not all trade marks are registerable. For instance, a trade mark will only be registered if the relevant Trade Marks Registry is satisfied that the trade mark is sufficiently distinctive to function as a trade mark, eg not solely descriptive of the goods or services. Furthermore, owners of earlier registered trade marks may oppose the application on the basis that the respective trade marks are confusingly similar with each other, and hence the application should be refused.

Important aspects of our role are:

• advising a client in relation to their freedom to use a proposed trade mark, based on trade mark clearance searches in the relevant countries;
• preparing registered trade mark applications in a way that offers the broadest protection, yet has a reasonable prospect of being allowable and subsequently enforceable;
• steering the application through all the stages of the procedure, including representing a client in any opposition proceedings.

After a trade mark has been registered, we assist with the maintenance of the registered trade mark and advise on its enforcement in the event that the registered trade mark is infringed by a competitor.

In everything we do, we endeavour to advise in a way that is commercially relevant, comprehensible and clear.

For more information about UK and overseas trade mark procedures and costs, follow these links:

Basic guide - UK Trade Marks

Basic guide – Overseas Trade Marks

You may also find some of the links to external websites on our Useful Links page helpful.